Champions League Draw awaits 27.08.09

So with all the preliminary qualifying rounds now out of the way the draw for the Champions League group stage proper is made tomorrow at 1630 UK time. Chelsea are in the first pot along with the other top seeds in the competition. At this stage in the draw sides are not allowed to play other teams from the same country but all four English sides are in the first seeded pot so this will not come into effect this year.

So we will be drawn along with three sides from the following pots.

Pot 2:
Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Porto, AZ Alkmaar, Juventus and Rangers.

Pot 3:
Olympiakos, Marseille, Dynamo Kiev, Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Athletico Madrid, Bordeaux and Besiktas.

Pot 4:
Wolfsburg, Standard Liege, Maccabi Haifa, FC Zurich, FC Rubin Kazan, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Apoel FC and Debrecen.

As we are all aware the draw is a complete lottery and the teams in pot 2 are very dangerous indeed. But with Ancelotti at the helm and our form in recent seasons in the competition we have to be confident that no matter who we draw we will progress to the second stage of the competition.

I honestly believe with the squad we have now at the Bridge and with our long term injuries returning to full training this could be our year!

Fingers crossed for a good draw tomorrow!